Character Design: Introduction
This week we're starting a series on character design. It's a useful (and fun) way to give you a visual for your characters, and also to help you with aspects of your culture. This can be a good tool for people who are very visual, to help them describe their characters. But before we get started, I have two things you need to remember.
First of all, you don't have to use paper and pencils like I did. You can sculpt, if that's your thing, you can draw digitally, paint, use paper dolls, anything. The point is to get what you see in your head into a physical format.
You know how when you have writer's block they tell you to try and write somewhere different? This is similar. If your characters seem one-dimensional, then try it out. Our sample character below was a place-holder in a story I haven't finished. I knew next to nothing about her, which is why I chose her as our sample. Using this form of character design, I learned about her personality, her likes and dislikes, even whether she was left or right handed. So if you need a little push in the right direction, this might help you out.
Second, and most importantly, you don't have to be a good artist to do this. This is a tool to help you visualize and improve your characters. It's perfectly fine if no one but you ever sees it. It's also perfectly fine if you throw it away when you're done.
Today, I'm just going to be walking you through our sample character to give you a basic idea of how it's done, and why I like this method so much.
What I Used
Sketchpad or paper - check
Pencils - check
Eraser(s) - check
Stuffed animal mascot - check
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Getting started
Our sample character design is for an artist. This character's name is Tsyla. She's a character from a story I've been working on for many years now, but which hasn't been finished yet.
My first step was to choose a pose for her that allows me to see most of her body. As you can see below, I chose a pose that shows the torso, head, arms, hands, one full leg, and most of a second leg. She has one leg raised, as if resting on a box, so details of the feet and/or shoes can be seen:
Since this character is female, I gave her a typical feminine body shape. I did this because I wanted as much detail about her as possible. It's a design, so I needed to know what she was wearing and looked like as much as possible. This meant I couldn't just leave both of her feet off the edge of the paper.
If you look closely, you can see that this particular character is holding a paintbrush. I wanted Tsyla to be interacting with an object, partially because that also shows her character, and partially because I thought the picture would look silly if she didn't have anything in her hand. One of the thigns I knew about Tsyal was that she was an artist. But I hadn't thought about what kind until I went to draw her. By adding a paintbrush to her design, I made her a painter.
Tsyla is holding a paintbrush in her left hand. I didn't know whether she was right or left-handed when I began this drawing, as it wasn't something I had thought about. She is now left-handed. 
Being good at drawing is NOT a requirement - I covered up Tsyla's second eye with a lock of hair so I wouldn't have to draw it. I usually start my detail-work with the face, head, and hair. As you can see here, Tsyla's hair is cut short. As a painter, I decided she dislikes it when hair gets in her face or in the way of her work.
Tsyla's people tend to prefer longer hairstyles, however. And since a longer hairstyle can be pulled back relatively easily, I needed a better reason for the short cut I gave her while I was writing. So I now know that she has a tendency to be late, and a short hairstyle is easier for her to take care of when she's in a rush.
While the blouse and wristbands she's wearing in this image are not unusual for one of her people, the belt style is. Her friends, family, and other members of her nation tend to prefer leather belts that wrap around only once. Tsyla has here used a cord, instead. This tells me that she sticks to popular foundations, but likes to improvise on the details.
I debated for several minutes over what kind of shoes Tsyla would wear, but in the end chose high boots.
One of the few things I knew about Tsyla was that her tribe is a group of talented artisans, living in a large cave-like building together. This meant she would spend much of her time walking through places where there are things like paint, clay, and even glass on the floor. The boots protect her trousers and feet from the more unsavory substances she might come into contact with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The image below is Tsyla's final design.
While I was working on the details of her clothing, the things she enjoys and the things she dislikes played a huge part. As an artist living in a community of artists, she would not only have access to many different artistic forms, but would also enjoy expressing herself artistically, and would likely alter her own clothing. So, while the foundation of her outfit is common among her people (see above), the details are not, because those are things she's added herself.
I discovered thatTsyla likes jewelry, but not gems. She prefers metals and chains that are plain. Her right wristband is attached to three metal rings worn on her hand by thin chains. A metal cuff around her left forearm is connected to the wristband on the same arm with another chain. There is a row of sockets, also connected by chains, down the inside of her boots. She has also embroidered a geometric design on the collar of her blouse, and added metal rings and chain loops. A chain with a single tassel hangs from the center metal ring.
The finished image of Tsyla tells me a few things that will make writing about her easier. It's also helped me nail down a few details I hadn't yet thought about.
Firstly, her clothing will likely jingle when she walks, due to her love of fine chains and metals. Two, even though she's a painter, she also likely has an interest in metal-working, due to how much metal has been worked into her clothing. If she hasn't learned how to do it herself, then she either has a close friend that does it for her, or she plans on learning it in the future. Three, she is left-handed. Four, despite her love of things different and her artistic sensibilities, nothing she's wearing makes it overly difficult to paint. This means that her priority is being able to do her job, and is therefore responsible in that sense. She is not wearing anything that would make it difficult to move around, which tells me that she is both impatient with anything that is impractical to the degree it slows her down, and also moves quickly.
First of all, you don't have to use paper and pencils like I did. You can sculpt, if that's your thing, you can draw digitally, paint, use paper dolls, anything. The point is to get what you see in your head into a physical format.
You know how when you have writer's block they tell you to try and write somewhere different? This is similar. If your characters seem one-dimensional, then try it out. Our sample character below was a place-holder in a story I haven't finished. I knew next to nothing about her, which is why I chose her as our sample. Using this form of character design, I learned about her personality, her likes and dislikes, even whether she was left or right handed. So if you need a little push in the right direction, this might help you out.
Second, and most importantly, you don't have to be a good artist to do this. This is a tool to help you visualize and improve your characters. It's perfectly fine if no one but you ever sees it. It's also perfectly fine if you throw it away when you're done.
Today, I'm just going to be walking you through our sample character to give you a basic idea of how it's done, and why I like this method so much.
What I Used
Sketchpad or paper - check
Pencils - check
Eraser(s) - check
Stuffed animal mascot - check
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Getting started
Our sample character design is for an artist. This character's name is Tsyla. She's a character from a story I've been working on for many years now, but which hasn't been finished yet.
My first step was to choose a pose for her that allows me to see most of her body. As you can see below, I chose a pose that shows the torso, head, arms, hands, one full leg, and most of a second leg. She has one leg raised, as if resting on a box, so details of the feet and/or shoes can be seen:
Since this character is female, I gave her a typical feminine body shape. I did this because I wanted as much detail about her as possible. It's a design, so I needed to know what she was wearing and looked like as much as possible. This meant I couldn't just leave both of her feet off the edge of the paper. If you look closely, you can see that this particular character is holding a paintbrush. I wanted Tsyla to be interacting with an object, partially because that also shows her character, and partially because I thought the picture would look silly if she didn't have anything in her hand. One of the thigns I knew about Tsyal was that she was an artist. But I hadn't thought about what kind until I went to draw her. By adding a paintbrush to her design, I made her a painter.
Tsyla is holding a paintbrush in her left hand. I didn't know whether she was right or left-handed when I began this drawing, as it wasn't something I had thought about. She is now left-handed. Being good at drawing is NOT a requirement - I covered up Tsyla's second eye with a lock of hair so I wouldn't have to draw it. I usually start my detail-work with the face, head, and hair. As you can see here, Tsyla's hair is cut short. As a painter, I decided she dislikes it when hair gets in her face or in the way of her work. Tsyla's people tend to prefer longer hairstyles, however. And since a longer hairstyle can be pulled back relatively easily, I needed a better reason for the short cut I gave her while I was writing. So I now know that she has a tendency to be late, and a short hairstyle is easier for her to take care of when she's in a rush.
While the blouse and wristbands she's wearing in this image are not unusual for one of her people, the belt style is. Her friends, family, and other members of her nation tend to prefer leather belts that wrap around only once. Tsyla has here used a cord, instead. This tells me that she sticks to popular foundations, but likes to improvise on the details.
I debated for several minutes over what kind of shoes Tsyla would wear, but in the end chose high boots. One of the few things I knew about Tsyla was that her tribe is a group of talented artisans, living in a large cave-like building together. This meant she would spend much of her time walking through places where there are things like paint, clay, and even glass on the floor. The boots protect her trousers and feet from the more unsavory substances she might come into contact with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The image below is Tsyla's final design.
While I was working on the details of her clothing, the things she enjoys and the things she dislikes played a huge part. As an artist living in a community of artists, she would not only have access to many different artistic forms, but would also enjoy expressing herself artistically, and would likely alter her own clothing. So, while the foundation of her outfit is common among her people (see above), the details are not, because those are things she's added herself.
I discovered thatTsyla likes jewelry, but not gems. She prefers metals and chains that are plain. Her right wristband is attached to three metal rings worn on her hand by thin chains. A metal cuff around her left forearm is connected to the wristband on the same arm with another chain. There is a row of sockets, also connected by chains, down the inside of her boots. She has also embroidered a geometric design on the collar of her blouse, and added metal rings and chain loops. A chain with a single tassel hangs from the center metal ring.
The finished image of Tsyla tells me a few things that will make writing about her easier. It's also helped me nail down a few details I hadn't yet thought about.Firstly, her clothing will likely jingle when she walks, due to her love of fine chains and metals. Two, even though she's a painter, she also likely has an interest in metal-working, due to how much metal has been worked into her clothing. If she hasn't learned how to do it herself, then she either has a close friend that does it for her, or she plans on learning it in the future. Three, she is left-handed. Four, despite her love of things different and her artistic sensibilities, nothing she's wearing makes it overly difficult to paint. This means that her priority is being able to do her job, and is therefore responsible in that sense. She is not wearing anything that would make it difficult to move around, which tells me that she is both impatient with anything that is impractical to the degree it slows her down, and also moves quickly.
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